Connecticut keeps its 5 Congressional seats

Rob Varnon, Staff Writer

Published 11:04 pm, Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Though population trends continued to sweep Congressional seats out of the Northeast to the South and West, the U.S. Census Bureau said Connecticut will keep its five representatives in the U.S. House.

The bureau released the first figures from the 2010 Census Tuesday showing that Connecticut's population grew by 4.9 percent between 2000 and 2010 to 3.58 million.

The U.S. population grew to 308,745,538 as of April 1, 2010. That represents a national growth rate of 9.7 percent since the last census in 2000.

This first census release focused on state population changes and how the 435 Congressional seats will be apportioned over the next 10 years. The data will be used by states to reapportion state legislative districts and will determine the amount of federal funds states and cities will receive.

The 2010 data indicates that 12 states will see changes in the number of Congressmen representing them when its time for the 2012 election.

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Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are all expected to lose one seat due to slow population growth. New York is expected to lose two seats as a result of its 2.1 percent growth rate. In the Northeast, only New Hampshire saw a higher percentage of population growth than Connecticut, with an increase of 6.5 percent. Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maine will continue to have the same number of representatives as they have for the last decade.

While the population shift South and West continued to center Congressional power in those regions, Texas is set to gain four new seats, it also means Republican hegemony might be challenged there, according to Christopher Kukk, associate professor of political pcience at Western Connecticut State University. The South and West both reported gains of more than 13 percent during the decade, and Nevada was once again the fastest growing state in the union with a growth rate of 35.1 percent. Nevada added about 702,294 people during the decade.

"This is the last election you're going to see Republicans with a strangle hold down south," he said of the 2010 results.

The increase in the Latino population coupled with transplanted Yankees and other northerners could create some problems for Republicans.

If Kukk is right, and Southern states get purpled up, the loss of seats in the Northeast might not have dire consequences for Connecticut's political clout in Washington, D.C. All five Connecticut Congressional seats are held by Democrats.

But these numbers don't necessarily spell good times for Democrats locally, he said. Kukk said there is a growing number of independents in the state whose votes led to some recent close elections. With Democrats controlling both the political branches of government, Kukk said they will have to right the economic ship in the next two years, or you could see huge Republican gains in the state Legislature.

In Connecticut, Kukk said the numbers show the state remains "the land of steady habits."

Colleen Flanagan, a spokeswoman for Gov.-elect Dan Malloy, said the first release from the bureau is good news for the state

"The governor-elect is pleased that Connecticut will retain each of its five Congressional seats," she said. "Traditionally, while we've had a small delegation down in Washington, we've had a powerful one. He looks forward to working with our state's elected representatives there to ensure Connecticut receives as much federal funding as possible for important projects and programs here in the state."